in september te'o valiantly played a big game against michigan state after he thought his girlfriend died of leukemia. days earlier te'o had told reporters and teammates his girlfriend and grandmother had died within hours of one another. notre dame says te'o is the victim of a cruel hoax who found out via a phone call in september that he had been pranked. he alerted the school 20 days later. he released a statement this week saying this is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time i developed an emotional relationship with a woman i met online. we maintained what i thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and i grew to care deeply about her. to realize that i was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. melinda henneberger is a "washington post" political reporter who is a notre dame alum. rob simmelkjaer is with nbc sports radio. notre dame says te'o got a call from what he thought was his late girlfriend's phone, and he realized